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Significant Accomplishments

Significant Accomplishments

March of Dimes Funds Statewide Collaborative

The March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center Ohio Collaborative was formed to bring together investigators from 20 different disciplines to intensify the search for the fundamental causes of preterm birth. We believe this collaborative will become a world leader in preterm birth research and prevention. The March of Dimes has pledged $10 million over five years to fund this initiative. The project includes Ohio’s leading health research institutions – Cincinnati Children’s, the University of Cincinnati, the Ohio State University, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Case Western Reserve University, and University Hospitals/MetroHealth. Cincinnati Children’s will be the coordinating site; co-directed by Louis Muglia, MD, PhD; James Greenberg, MD, Jeffrey Whitsett, MD, and SK Dey, PhD.

Three Major Grants for Lung Disease Research

Our faculty received three new awards this year from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute ( NHLBI). Whitsett, Bruce Trapnell, MD, MS, and Frank McCormack, MD, are co-principal investigators for a T32 training grant entitled “Pulmonary and Cardiac Development and Disease.” Whitsett, principal investigator, is collaborating with Biomedical Informatics and the UC College of Engineering on a K12 grant, “Omics of Lung Diseases.” Whitsett also will lead a new R01 grant, “Transcriptional Programming of Asthma Related Pathology in Respiratory Epithelia.”

Collaborative for Infant Mortality Reduction

The Perinatal Institute facilitated the creation of a public/private collaborative to reduce our region’s infant mortality rate. The collaborative brings together leaders from Hamilton County, the City of Cincinnati, the UC Colleges of Medicine and Nursing, Cincinnati Children’s, all regional hospital maternity providers, and several local nonprofit agencies. The collaborative has a five-year $1.25 million funding commitment based upon an agreement between the Board of Hamilton County Commissioners, UC Health and Drake Center, LLC. Collaborative operations are based at Cincinnati Children’s. Greenberg and Elizabeth Kelly, MD, provide operational leadership of the Collaborative along with newly appointed Director, Ryan Adcock. County Commissioner Todd Portune and Cincinnati City Councilmember Wendell Young Co-Chair the Advisory Board, which was created through a memorandum of understanding signed by all parties on June 13, 2013.